Corn harvester



Patented June l2, 1945 UNITED STATES' PATEN u .l 2,378,236A

T ori-ICE conN imnvas'rm Y Hamid H. Cook, Steward, lll. Application August so, 1943, serial No. 500,505

4 Claims.

This invention relates to corn harvesting machines and has special reference to machines designed particularly for the harvestingof sweet corn or the like.

A serious problemV in the harvesting of corn is the damage to the ears occasioned by the harvesting operation as heretofore conducted with conventional types of machines in which the stalks of standing corn pass between rotating rolls which move upward along the stalks and squeeze the ears off by contact with the butts of the ears. When the corn being harvested is ripe corn, the kernels oi' corn are hard and relatively easily shelled, and this squeezing action tends to shell kernels from the butts of the ears, the kernels dropping onto the ground and thus being lost. With sweet corn, which is harvested in a state in which the kernels are soft or in the socalled milk stage, the squeezing of the butts damages the kernels adjacent the butts which introduces difficulties in the canning operation.\

An important object of the invention is the provision of a machine for harvesting corn wherein the ears are removed from the stalks I without direct contact of any instrument therewith and by reciprocation or movement of the stalk adjacent the ears, the reciprocation being of such sharpness that the ears snap from the stalk due to their inertia.

I have also aimed to providea corn harvester having spaced picker elements passing along opposite sides of a row of standing corn together with means for reciprocating the elements in synchronism in a movement approaching a,

straight line movement crosswise ofthe corn row,the picker elements being inclined upwardly and backwardly so as to engage the stalks adjacent the ground and progress upwardly therealong as the picker moves forwardalong the corn row whereby the ears are snapped from the stalks at or adjacent the shanks before the picker elements reach an elevation to strike the ears, the ears being removed from a point above the picker elements and falling to the sides of the picker elements to be gathered by conveyers t0 a central point.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the description and drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a top view of a corn harvester embodying my invention; and

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof.

"Iheconstruction herein described and claimed is one species of the generic invention disclosed and claimed in my copending application Serial No.l 389,493, led April 21, 1941, now Patent No.

2,346,252, entitled Corn picker. In that application I describe the principle oi.' reciprocating and striking the stalk of corn for the purpose of snapping the ears therefrom, and further describe a speciic embodiment of the invention employing eccentric rotating rolls for the puru r 5 designates generally a frame structure having an axle 6 .upon which wheels 'I and 8 are disposed for the purpose of supporting the machine in its movement through the eld, the machine being adapted to be moved along the corn row in conducting the harvesting operations. In this particular instance the machine is constructed for use with a tractor and has a conventional tractor .drawbar 9 for attachment to the tractor, the drawbar forming a part of the frame structure. The harvester has two gathering members indicated generally by the numerals II' and I2, each of which has conventional gathering points I3 and I tand gathering sheets I5 and I6, the gathering `members being supported on arms I'I of the frame structure. Positioned on the gathering members for reciprocation with respect thereto are picker elements I8 and I 9, in this instance comprising bars arranged in spaced relation on the inner side of then gathering members providing a space therebetween as indicated at 2| for the reception of the corn row, it being understood that the gathering members straddle the corn row as in conventional corn harvesting devices.

The picker elements I8 and I9 are adapted for reciprocation transversely ofthe corn row, and for this purpose the front end of each picker element is provided with a guide 22 seating in a tube 23 in which it is free to move longitudinally, the tube 23 being attached to the frame element I1. The rear ends of the bars are supported for guiding movement in the groove of a channel iron member 24 of U-shaped cross-section which serves as a guide for the rear ends of the bars. The bars are reciprocated by means of a crank mechanism including a crank shaft 25 having bearing supDOrt on the frame as indicated at 26 conventional yokes and wrist pins as indicated at 33 and 34. The bar I8 is arranged to be driven in like fashion from a crank shaft 35 disposed in the gathering member' I5. The crank shafts 25 and 35 carry sprockets 38 and 31, which are interconnected by a chain 38, the two shafts being so arranged that the cranks thereonare disposed in the same direction, or in other words so that both of the bars I8 and I9 s ultaneously move either upwardly or downw dl ,fa'cing Figure 1 so as to alternately strike ther of corn on opposite sides thereof. The crank'shafts are driven from a chain 39 trained over a sprocket 4I on the crank -shaft 25 and over a sprocket 42 on the shaft of a selective speed transmission indicated generally by the numeral 43. In this instance the transmission 43 is driven from a power take-of! shaft, 44 of the tractor, but it will be obvious that this may be replaced by any conventional selfcontained power unit if desired in orderto drive the shafts through the selective speed transmission.

The gathering members also have belts 45 and 48 arranged to extend longitudinally thereof behind the picker elements I8 and I9, both belts being arranged as shown in Figure 1 and being trained over a pulley 41 supported on the frame element I1 adjacent the gathering point, the pulley 41 being of such width that the upper reach of the /belt extends above the connecting rods 3I and 32 so that the ears snapped from the stalks can drop behind the snapping elements and onto these belts. The opposite ends of the belts are trained over pulleys 48 carried on a shaft 49 having bearing support on the frame, this shaft being driven by beveled gears I, in 'this instance from the crank shaft 25, though obviously this may be driven independent of -the change speed transmission 43 if desired, the present arrangement being simply for convenience sake. Thus the ears are transported rearwardly by the belts 45 and 48 and drop off the ends of these belts into the hopper 52 which converges at the lower end of a further conveyer 53 which extends rearwardly and backwardly from the machine, terminating in a chute 54 in such wise that the ears is struck at the shank adjacent the butt of the ear and the mapping action reaches its point, of

'greatest severity. When the lowermost ear drops of! it falls onto one of the conveyors and is conveyed backwardly into the hopper 52, and simultaneously the picker elements progress upwardly until the next ear is snapped. It will be seen that this action is such that the ears are never directly struck by the picker elements with the exception of the possibility of very small ears which are light in weight. Such small ears may pass completely through the machine without being removed, and in the case of harvesting of sweet corn this is an advantage in that it removes these small undesirable ears from the pick.

The selective speed transmission 43 is provided for the purpose of regulating this severity of action, and this becomes necessary due to variations inthe condition of the corn with change in its e moisture.

dropping into the chute are carried upward by the conveyer 53 and disposed into a trailing wagon in a manner common in such devices. The conveyer 53 in this instance consists of a sconveyer belt trained over pulleys 55 and 58 carried on a shaft 51 which is driven by suitable sprockets and by achain '58 from the shaft 49.

In use the machine is towed through the eld of standing corn with the gathering members II and I2 disposed on opposite sides of the corn row and the stalks of standing corn passing into the sp'ace 2| between the picker elements I8 and I9. It will be seen that these picker elements are inclined after the same fashion of conventional picker rolls so that the stalk is first received between the bars at a point adjacent the ground as shown in Fig. 2 in which the numeral 8| indicates one stalk of a row of standing corn. As the machine moves forward the picker elements alternately strike opposite sides of the stalk impart- As will be seen from Fig. 2, the picker elements are inclined at an angle with respect to the ground so that the forward ends pass on opposite side of the corn stalk adjacent the ground, the pickery elements moving upward with respect to the stalk as the harvester moves forward along the corn row. Under these circumstances the shaking er striking action of the picker bars moves progressively up the stalk so that the lowermost ears are first removed and the ears are progressively removed up the stalk, snapping from the stalk before the picker bars reach the elevation of the butt. In most instances the ear is snapped off when the picker elements reach the elevation of the shank, the elements striking the shank just below the ear, to impart the most severe snapping action. In this way the ears are never struck by the picker elements but snap off at the butt and drop back of the picker elements onto the conveyers. It will also be seen that this linear movement of the picker elements avoids the possible complication of interference from the leaves or stalks such as may -occur in rotary elements in which the stalks and leaves may tend to wind on the rolls.

I claim:

1. 'I'he combination in a wheeled corn harvester of longitudinally disposed spaced members movable along opposite sides of a corn raw spaced picker elements comprising bars extending longif tudinally of the spaced members and inclined upwardly from front to rear in the direction of ing a reciprocation to the stalk and this striking motion progressively advances up the stalk. As the bars approach the ear such as indicated at 82, the severity of the action increases until the weight of the ear of corn prevents the ear from following the movement of the stalk because of the inertia thereof and the ear breaks from the stalk. If the reciprocation is not sulcient, then the upward movement progresses until the stalk travel along the com row, means for supporting said bars in substantially coextensive spaced relationship for the reception of a corn row therebetween, and means for reciprocating said bars crosswiserofrtliecgrn row in synchronized substantially straight lie movement to strike the stalks of corn in said row through a small portion of their length below the ears alternately on opposite sides thereof to snap the ears therefrom at the shank in response to the impact of said bars.

2. The combination vin a wheeled corn harvester of longitudinally disposed spaced gathering members movable along opposite sides of a corn row, spacedr picker elements comprising spaced bars extending longitudinally of the spaced gathering members and inclined upwardly from front to rear in the direction ot travel along the corn row, means for supporting said bars on said members in spaced relationship for passage on opposite sides of a row of standing corn and for movement of said bars toward and away from the corn row, and means for driving said bars and synchronizing the same for simultaneous movement of one of the bars toward the corn row and the other bar away -from the corn row in alternate movements and in substantially straight line movement vto strike the stalks of corn below lthe ears thereon alternately on opposite sides thereof to snap the ears therefrom at the shank.

3. The combination in a wheeled corn harvester' of longitudinally disposed spaced gathering members movable along opposite sides of a corn row, spaced picker elements comprising spaced bars extending longitudinally of the cornn row, means for supporting said bars longitudinally on said gathering members in spaced backwardly and upwardly inclined relationship for passage on opposite sides of a row of standing corn, said means also supportingl said bars for movement thereof generally transversely with respect to said gathering members and thereby toward and away' from the corn row, and means for driving said bars and synchronizing the same for simultaneous movement of one of the bars laterally of the gathering members in one direction and thereby toward the corn row and the other bar away laterally of the gathering members in the other direction' and thereby from the corn row in alternate movements and in substantially straight line movement while the harvester moves along the com row to strike the stalks of corn below the ears alternately on opposite sides thereof in rapid succession and progressively upward along the corn stalk to snap the ears therefrom at the shank by impact below the ears.

4. The combination in a wheeled corn 'harvester of longitudinally disposed spaced gathering members movable along opposite sides of a corn row, picker elements on said gathering members comprising bars extending longitudinally of the corn row and inclined upwardly from front to rear in the direction of travel along the corn row and spaced for passage on opposite sides of a row of standing corn, means at opposite ends of said bars for supporting and guiding the same alternately on opposite sides thereof in rapid e ing means to select any of aplurality of speeds for said bars dependent upon the condition of the Corn.

' HAROLD H. COOK. 

